1. Field
Provided is a microfluidic channel for removing bubbles in a fluid and a microfluidic apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a growing interest in the manufacture and use of microfluidic apparatuses for the acquisition of chemical and biological information.
A microfluidic apparatus is used to analyze and measure chemical, biological, or physical characteristics of a fluid on a micro-scale or meso-scale level in the fields of physics, chemistry, biochemistry and bioengineering. The microfluidic apparatus may use a small amount of reagent and shorten a reaction time.
Samples and reagents, etc., used in a microfluidic apparatus are stored at low temperatures in advance and heated on use. As the temperature of the sample increases, there is a decrease in the saturation solubility of oxygen, nitrogen and other such gas components dissolved in the sample, and any gaseous components dissolved at over the saturation solubility produce bubbles inside the microfluidic channel.
As a result, the bubbles can partially or even totally block the microfluidic channel, which impedes the flow of the fluid and makes the fluid more difficult to control. Also, when the microfluidic apparatus is used to measure the amount of a sample, the generation of bubbles makes it difficult to measure accurately the amount of the sample.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a microfluidic channel capable of reducing or removing bubbles generated in a fluid flowing through a microfluidic channel.